Suicide Squad is the antithesis of Summer entertainment. In a season on continual disappointments, this one really hurts. This movie had so much potential. How do you fuck this up? The characters pretty much write themselves. How in god's green earth did I not have ANY fun in the theater? It's borderline impressive that David Ayer was able to make such a boring, lifeless film with such an entertaining premise. You know that kid back in Middle school who tried way too hard to be your friend by trying way too hard to be cool? That's Suicide Squad.

Anyways, here are my thoughts...

The "Humor" - misogynistic, awkwardly inserted, and just flat out lame. You can tell that WB was shitting their pants after BvS and therefore tried to make this movie more "fun." The jokes don't land and the lines aren't witty. And that's because there's no energy behind this movie. I shit you not, they make a joke about killing children. KILLING CHILDREN. And you're supposed to laugh (which a few people did in my showing).

The Characters - each character has little to no character development. We're treated to a series of title cards for each character at the beginning of the film but it's ultimately pointless. Characters die and you feel nothing because you had no idea who they were. A lot of characters are given nothing to do. Croc does nothing until the end of the movie. We don't see him fight, interact, etc. Furthermore, there is no character bonding (despite them becoming friends at the end). We have no idea what ties all of these super villains together. And this is probably the movie's biggest flaw. The audience needs to know why everyone is working together and how they become friends. The lack of interaction is especially evident in the fight scenes. Civil War worked best when Spiderman used his abilities alongside of Iron Man. They worked together and made a fun, unique, and interesting combination. This never happens in Suicide Squad.

The Soundtrack - Take a few Advil before walking into the theaters because you're going to need it. Not only is the soundtrack all over the place, but it's so on the nose. Once again, I blame the new editing team which WB hired post BvS. They might be able to edit a trailer together, but that's very different from editing a movie. And this is so evident by how awkwardly they jam the music into each scene.

The Joker - The good news? He's only in this movie for like 20 minutes. The bad news? Leto might be the worst portrayal of the joker to EVER be put on screen (movie and TV). Not only does he not understand his character, but he doesn't feel the least bit threatening. His lisp is annoying, his costume is unintentionally hilarious, and his acting is atrocious. Take back this man's oscar.

The Stakes - None whatsoever. Another huge gripe I have with SS, is that there are never any consequences. Something ballsy will happen and then SS will suddenly take it back and say, "just kidding."

The Villain - bland, cliched, and nonthreatening. The villain makes littles sense because the story makes little sense. Oh and she has an army of what looks like putties from the Power Rangers. Unfortunately for us, the members of SS spend most of the movie fighting these faceless minions.

The Acting - It's okay? Will Smith seems a bit more rejuvenated. Margot Robbie is decent enough but her accent goes in and out. I feel like a better actress could have stolen the movie.

The MPAA Rating - Normally I wouldn't make a stink about this, but this movie should have been rated R. People are killed by machine guns left and right. I love violence in movies, but I wouldn't bring anyone younger than 15 to this movie. Hands down, the most violent PG-13 movie ever made.

As I said before, this move is just lame. It looks and feels outdated. Maybe if this film came out 10 years ago, it would have blown people's minds. But it's trying way too hard to be the next Deadpool or Guardians and it fails on almost every level. It's loud, obnoxious, and feels like a juggalo ate a good movie (and washed it down with some faygo) and shitted all over a screen.

D+ for me. Fuck Suicide Squad, fuck DC, and fuck Warner Brothers. I couldn't give two shits about the upcoming Justice League movie.

Thanks for the review and heads up, Will. It's so disappointing to see these f**kers molest this round of DC films. I can't put myself through another Batman V Superman, and the trailer for Justice League just looks boring. Wonder Woman could be awesome, and might be they're only excuse not to tie up the loose ends on this shitty operation and reboot fresh.

I didn't hate BvS. Don't get me wrong, it's not a good movie by any means. But I didn't hate it on almost every level like I did SS.

In that way, I think BvS is a better movie. BvS has farther to fall so it's a bit unfair to compare the two. But like I said, BvS is a terrible movie. Then again, it at least has some merit (even though it's very minimal).

Let me know if you give into temptation and decide to see SS. I think a lot of people are curious to see if it's really THAT bad.

BvS should never have happened... it should never have happened at all, not even in the comics/graphic novels. Stupid idea. Absolutely horrible. Suicide Squad is an even stupider idea. Hence the results. The best writers in the world couldn't make it work.

Quoted from albinopenguin Let me know if you give into temptation and decide to see SS. I think a lot of people are curious to see if it's really THAT bad.

Nope, not gonna happen. That's exactly what suckered me into BvS; i was curious to know if it was that bad or critics just didn't appreciate it. After seeing what's already out there for Suicide Squad, it's an easy miss for me.

Quoted from Dustin The best writers in the world couldn't make it work.

The first thing I thought after BvS was I could've done way better. Now I'm starting to agree with you - this DC universe and its framework were doomed before it started. Nobody can write this garbage.

Damn, I can't even shake my head and say maybe they shouldn't keep hiring hack writers. BvS had the writer of Argo and David Goyer on the case. I know Goyer can be hit or miss but still... that was a disaster. I don't even blame Zack Snyder, well I do cuz he's the worst, but that script was irredeemable.

SS had David Ayers on the case. I loved the scripts for Training Day and End of Watch. No idea how he screwed this up so badly. I'm so disappointed. I refuse to accept it was an impossible idea to begin with. I don't read much in the way of comics but wasn't Guardians of the Galaxy an epic challenge too? Gunn pulled it off. Ayers just shit the bed here. I'm not gonna excuse his failure... I need a drink.

I think DC comics are harder to adapt, but not impossible. Sure it's a challenge, but I can recommend plenty of comics that were turned into decent movies. Take Watchmen for example. Far from perfect, but still enjoyable.

This movie is loud and obnoxious, but not in a fun or cool way. Like I said in my review, this might be the lamest movie I've ever seen. It's not bland, it's cringe worthy.

Quoted from albinopenguin Take Watchmen for example. Far from perfect, but still enjoyable.

I never understood this. Watchmen the movie and the comic are the exact same thing. Especially the 4 hour cut. Same story line per line, same shots, visuals etc, everything is a copy of the comic book. I don't understand how anyone even got a screenwriting credit on that movie as they just copied everything to the letter from the comic.

I read all the comics like a week before the movie came out. Went to see the movie and was bored out of my mind because it was the exact same thing! How can anyone like one and not the other.

The only thing that was different was the ending. Which was way better in the movie anyway. It made way more sense.

Without turning this into a Watchmen discussion, I'd be happy to help explain why people were upset. However, let me say that I completely agree with you in regards to the ending. The ending in the book doesn't make much sense. It's way more easy to digest in the film. However, Moore wrote Watchmen in order to prove why comics are so great. He transcends the medium with Watchmen. How? Because he divides each page into 9 panels. And all of the panels revolve around the center panel within each page. When he breaks this pattern, it's for a reason.

The biggest complaint about Snyder's version of the film revolves around his interpretation of the comic. And after seeing BvS, it's apparent that Snyder occasionally stumbles upon greatness but never means to consciously do so (take Sucker Punch for example). He doesn't get the source material. And this is evident by the way he highlights violence and destruction. In the comics, Watchmen is rarely gorey or violent. It's all implied. So instead of highlighting the characters and morale behind the story, he romanticizes destruction and violence where ever and whenever he can.

This also comes into play with the costuming. Instead of remaining true to the books (which purposely refused to employ primary colors except when something big happened), he decided to spoof films like Batman Forever. This is why Ozymandias has nipples in his costume.

Also, in the extended edition the dude who sells newspapers and the kid reading the Black Freighter have the same name. They don't realize this until the end of the film and it's meant as a sort of bonding moment. This makes the Martha moment in BvS all the more stupid.

Anyways, I hope that makes some sense and gives you a sense of why die hard fans of the comics were so pissed off.

I don't think the content or the framework are to blame for DC's recent failures; I think it's as simple as Marvel beat them to the punch with their own universe and now DC is fucked. Marvel took their time to develop each character within their own films before coming out with The Avengers and the like, so the progression felt natural and they didn't have to overstuff their films (even if they did it anyway with a handful of projects). DC could take the same approach, but then they wouldn't have a properly established universe until several years later and couldn't possibly hope to properly compete with Marvel at that point. Plan B (scramble to catch up) leaves them with too much content and too little time to cover it all in an even marginally cohesive manner.

Oh, and how about another token Zach-Snyder-sucks comment to top that off? Probably not the best guy to helm the two biggest tentpoles in your prospective DC universe, especially with so much at stake from even a business standpoint. But alas, what hasn't been said about this fuckwit already?

Quoted from albinopenguin Anyways, I hope that makes some sense and gives you a sense of why die hard fans of the comics were so pissed off.

I'm not trying to sound offensive or anything, but it really didn't make sense to me as to why they don't like it.

I read the comic books twice. I liked them. I'm a fan. However the film is a shot by shot, line by line recreation of the comic just with a better ending. They fit everything they could in a 4 hour movie. How could someone want it to be MORE faithful to the source material when it's almost an exact recreation of it with a better ending?

Quoted from James McClung Oh, and how about another token Zach-Snyder-sucks comment to top that off? Probably not the best guy to helm the two biggest tentpoles in your prospective DC universe, especially with so much at stake from even a business standpoint. But alas, what hasn't been said about this fuckwit already?

Man of Steel was a good movie. And I know the sequel originally was supposed to be just that - a story about Superman. Then they announced Batman, then somehow morphed into a Justice League prequel. Whoever cooked up this DCEU had no vision for it, Snyder got in over his head by eating it, and now we all have bad diarrhea after watching it.

Quoted from oJOHNNYoNUTSo Man of Steel was a good movie. And I know the sequel originally was supposed to be just that - a story about Superman. Then they announced Batman, then somehow morphed into a Justice League prequel. Whoever cooked up this DCEU had no vision for it, Snyder got in over his head by eating it, and now we all have bad diarrhea after watching it.

I imagine they were still working on Man of Steel when The Avengers came out, became the third highest-grossing film of all time as of that year (2012), and opened the floodgates for the Marvel Universe, making tons of money. DC/Warner Bros had to follow suit. I don't know if they switched gears and tried to jury rig Man of Steel 2 as a Justice League prequel or if such a prequel was a plan all along, but either way, they're now trying to catch up to Marvel at all costs.

I didn't like Man of Steel. I don't even like Superman for that matter. In any case, it seems like Snyder has at least some control over all his films. They're all distinctly his, I'd say. I haven't seen BVS, but from what I've heard, it sounds like him, doesn't it (correct me if I'm wrong and if the film is somehow dialed back for him -- I don't mean in terms of rating/adult content)? If he does in fact have that kind of control, I think it's fair to say he should share some of the blame.

On Suicide Squad itself, I'll probably still check it out regardless of the reviews. Hopefully I'll get really, really mad. Nothing's really amazed me this year, so perhaps I might try something in the opposite direction. Plus I actually more or less like David Ayer.

Quoted from James McClung I imagine they were still working on Man of Steel when The Avengers came out, became the third highest-grossing film of all time as of that year (2012), and opened the floodgates for the Marvel Universe, making tons of money. DC/Warner Bros had to follow suit. I don't know if they switched gears and tried to jury rig Man of Steel 2 as a Justice League prequel or if such a prequel was a plan all along, but either way, they're now trying to catch up to Marvel at all costs.

You're probably right. After Nolan put a round turn on TDK, the Man of Steel brand doesn't have the scope to compete at the level of MU at the time. But Warner Bros isn't going to let that cash go uncontested.

Kind of off subject - but I just finished the Arkham Knight game series and wow what a great story! The writing in video games is a thousand times better than than what Snyder's crew came up with.

Quoted from oJOHNNYoNUTSo You're probably right. After Nolan put a round turn on TDK, the Man of Steel brand doesn't have the scope to compete at the level of MU at the time. But Warner Bros isn't going to let that cash go uncontested. Kind of off subject - but I just finished the Arkham Knight game series and wow what a great story! The writing in video games is a thousand times better than than what Snyder's crew came up with.

Yeah I've only ever played Arkham city but those games are awesome! A movie based on them would be better than the superhero tripe dished out now.  one gripe I had with the SS trailer (obviously I won't be seeing the film nor had I heard of the comic before a few months back or graphic novel or whatever its based on) - why does Harley Quinn not look like the HQ from the Arkham games? That char is hot

I was gonna see this just for Robbie. Thx for saving me 17 bucks.

The whole witch thing was gay as aids.

I dig this Joker. Jared Leto killed it imo. So did Margot.

More Joker and Harley, less of the croc and boomerang that did nothing.

Wasn't as bad as Deadpool ;)

Y'know... this "SS" abbreviation is getting sooooo confusing.  There's Suicide Squad, ScriptShadow (whoops!) and of course - the best and original - Simplyscripts!

That said, Phil's probably going to see Suicide Squad.  I probably won't.  In the meantime, this'd probably be worth a watch...

https://youtu.be/hBerpcwJkg4

Speaking of Scriptshadow.net, CR seems to appreciate the suicide script for the short time it was written in. Hmm, not sure how that should be a criteria.

Wow. This movie was pretty bad. I didn't expect it to be this bad.

This movie had too many characters, a horrible villain, the pace wasn't good and a lot of the dialogue was corny, most jokes fell flat for me.

I too liked Leto's Joker. Seemed like an interesting change. Harley Quinn had some horrible lines.

Finally saw it couple of weeks ago.

Meh, what a mess. Almost no story, most of the characters were incredibly one-dimensional, useless action scenes, way too many characters to get what the fuck is actually going on....

Really disappointing.

Saw it, Wow was it a volcanic pile of dark leaky sewage.

No arguments here. Bad movie.

BvS would have been a lot better with the Nolan bros at the helm (w/ Bale back) to merge TDK and Man of Steal franchises more seamlessly.
Just focus on the relationship between Batman and Superman / Kent and Wayne. How their philosophies differ... and them learning to work together to fight a common super villain.    
That's a movie in and of itself. Dumpster all that other bullshit they crammed in into BvS.

There's a damn GOOD MOVIE to be made here... with the right people behind it.